Familiar pattern: How tradition has influenced artist Kan Tai-keung

Legacy is a theme that runs through the illustrious career of designer and artist Kan Tai-keung. Lauded for his work that fuses elements of traditional Chinese culture with Western influences, “Uncle Kan” is a dedicated educator who has been an inspiration to the new generation of Chinese designers.

“I believe that in each era certain things can be appreciated for a very long time, even after the passing of that period. The Chinese culture is rich and deep; there are so many different layers to it [that may manifest themselves] as a pattern, a way of thinking or an attitude towards life. This is what has been passed on to us, from generation to generation,” he says.

Kan, who is from Panyu in Guangdong province, came to Hong Kong in 1957 at the age of 15. He was a tailor by day and a painter by night before moving into design in the late 1960s. The brain behind an array of brand logos, stamps, magazines and posters, Kan has won hundreds of awards in the past 45 years. He was the first designer to receive the “Hong Kong Ten Outstanding Young Persons” honour in 1979 and the first Chinese to be included in Who’s Who in Graphic Design of Switzerland

in 1995. In 2000, he was selected as one of the 2,000 outstanding artists and designers of the 20th century in Britain. In 2010, he was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong government. One of Kan’s most successful designs is the Bank of China logo. It comprises a circle encompassing a square and resembles an ancient Chinese coin, which references the bank’s function. The design was inspired by the age-old concept of fangyuan (“square-circle”) that describes our ancestors’ curiosity in and understanding of the unknown universe.